I have created a new Picard plugin for using cover art from TheAudioDB. The plugin is available in the official plugin list, so you can easily install it from inside Picard.
TheAudioDB provides high quality cover art and is a great option for people who prefer visual quality over exact representation of a specific release for their digital collection. In this regard the plugin is an alternative or complement to the also available plugin for Fanart.tv.
Have fun using this, and consider contributing to TheAudioDB.com or Fanart.tv. They are both great services that integrate nicely with MusicBrainz data and provide, as I think, a valuable addition to the core data provided by MusicBrainz itself and the Cover Art Archive.
Yes, that’s exactly how it currently works. Ideally the user would have more control over that later on and could e.g. choose to use another source manually, or specify a minimum size they want to find. But at the moment Picard will just use the first source it finds
Hello,
I am a newb concerning MusicBrainz.
I see there are plugins that can be installed and then checked.
I am, however, completelly at a loss regarding how to install new plugins not in the list.
For example, @outsidecontext writes there is a new plugin TheAudioDB that is available in the official plugin list. That is true, I see it there and can download the zip file.
However, I do not have the slightest idea how to actually install that plugin - from either inside of Picard or outside.
In Options->Plugins, I see there is a button “Install plugin…”.
Clicking that button opens a file browser.
You can then browse to the downloaded zip file of the plugin.
This operation copies that zip file to ~/.config/MusicBrainz/Picard/plugins.
There can be any number of zip files there, I also copied some manually.
However, neither copying them manually nor using Picards “Install Plugin…” button has any effect as far as I can see.
After restarting and reloading the plugin list, none of the plugins that have been copied manually or that have been copied by “Install plugin…” are actually available, i.e. none of them appear in the plugin list where they could be checked.
At this moment, I am at a complete loss as to how to install plugins in Picard - let alone be able to do what @outsidecontext says: install plugins from inside Picard.
I am running Picard version 1.4.2 on Ubuntu 18.04
Attached is a screenshot of the “about” pane.
This is a list of plugins that are currently available for use with Picard. The current production release of Picard 2.x uses API v2. The older Picard 1.x releases use API v1.
Thanks. I installed picard 2.1.3 using snap. I can now install plugins downloaded from the official plugin page. I still have no clue how to install TheAdioDB cover art plugin from within picard though. How would I do that?
I am also at a loss as to how this plugin actually works. I have identified a couple of songs from Al Martino and Barbra Streisand. None displayed cover art. Do I have to tune something?
The strange thing is, when I go to “Lookup in browser” for some of the albums there actuall is cover art on the website - I can then drag the cover art to the CD in the bottom right of Picard and then save the songs and the cover art is correctly saved as tags.
However, nothing seems to happen automatically - the cover art from the website is not downloaded automatically to the tracks, and, as I said, for some albums even the website does not have cover art (e.g. “Spanish Eyes” by Al Martino).
Open Options > Plugins, this will show a list of all plugins available on the Picard website and installed locally. If a plug-in is not yet installed there will be a download button. Clicking it will download and activate the plugin. If you installed it manually make sure to activate it. Active plugins have a green check mark.
Activate the plugin as described above
The plugin will show up as a cover art source in Options > Cover Art. Activate this as well. You can choose the priority of the different cover art sources by ordering them.
Also check the general cover art options there and tune them to your needs.
Load or reload any album. If TheAudioDB has any cover art for the corresponding release group it should get loaded.
First TheAudioDB plugin obviously does not download the cover art you see on the MusicBrainz website. It is a plug-in to load cover art from TheAudioDB.com
For getting the cover art you see in MusicBrainz activate the Cover Art Archive in Options > Cover Art. This plugin has some custom options in Options > Cover Art > Cover Art Archive .
Thanks so much for this response.
I managed to install TheAudioDB from within picard, thanks for that. On a side node: there also is the officially supported amazon cover art plugin on the webpage, but that plugin is not listed under Options → plugins. Do you know why?
I am trying to find TheAudioDB cover art s source under Options → Cover Art.
However, There are always the same two options there, regardless whether or not TheAudioDB plugin is enabled or not. After each plugin-action, I always restart picard again. Still, the plugin does not - I think - create additional options in that group. I am certain I am doing something wrong. Can you tell me how to troubleshooet that?
Here are the two options under Options → Cover Art. As stated above, they are always there, regardless whether or not TheAudioDB Cover Art plugin is installed:
When I install TheAudioDB Cover Art plugin, am I excpecting a third row under Options → Cover Art? Is there a source that shows what to expect and how to tune it?
Maybe you can also tell me how to tune Options->Cover Art->Cover Art Archive? (In case I do not get TheAudioDB cover art plugin to work) As stated above, when I click an album, the website displays some cover art. However, seemingly I am unable to tune the MusicBrainz plugin in such a way that these covers are downloaded automatically. At the moment, Scanning files finds correct album and artist, but no cover art is downloaded.
Thanks again, I actually found the place where I had to check the TheAudioDB Cover Art Plugin. It was unchecked. Now I checked it and can download cover Art. At least for some albums. That worked, thanks again!
I also found the amazon plugin there. Combining TheAudioDB, amazon, and musicBrainz, it actually finds cover art for quite a lot of albums.
So many thanks again, I guess all my questions are answered.
The Amazon cover art is built-in into current Picard, but the next version of Picard will no longer bundle this but we have moved this functionality into a plugin. The plugin already exists, but it is marked as being incompatible with the current release version as it is not needed there.
